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Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

mashable.com

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Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#51

Post by Casseres »

largehotcoffee wrote: post #36

I operate an adult comic book publisher and Coinbase shutdown our account without notice and blamed the bank they work with (despite the fact that we were not converting our BTC to USD). All support tickets took 3 - 5 weeks to get a reply and it was always unhelpful. For a company like ours the whole appeal of Bitcoin is the anonymity, so our readers don't have to worry about buying lewd comics and having it show up…

> For a company like ours the whole appeal of Bitcoin is the anonymity, so our readers don't have to worry about buying lewd comics and having it show up on their statements.

Might I suggest Monero? That way if your customers use Bitcoin for other things, others can't see the details of your customers' transactions with you.

If you don't convert into USD, there are different plugins that allow you to collect the coins, if you do want to convert there's a service called Globee that also takes BTC as well as XMR.

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#52

Post by JumpCrisscross »

deltateam wrote: post #5

That awkward moment when you appeal to authority, but it is the wrong authority. Coinbase doesn't trades securities, and had not even registered as a broker-dealer at the time of any of these complaints. Wouldn't the Federal Trade Commission be the more apt generic regulator to lodge these complaints to?

> Wouldn't the Federal Trade Commission be the more apt generic regulator to lodge these complaints to?

The best strategy would involve papering many agencies. The CFPB, SEC, CFTC, OCC, your state financial services regulator and attorney general, et cetera. Generally speaking, the SEC is still deciding whether Bitcoin is in its purview. Lots of complaints could cause it to classify Bitcoin exchanges as being subject to the Exchange Act or 1934.

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#54

Post by yani »

spaceandthyme wrote: post #20

I know several good people that have been locked out of Coinbase permanently - without any explanation of why - for over a year despite repeated unanswered requests to have accounts reinstated. I watched those people turn from advocates for coinbase into critics. Just a simple explanation would have helped prevent that scenario. This company is a terrible example of how to do business. It's as if they watched how Goo…

It usually ends with someone in handcuffs.

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#55

Post by optimiz3 »

Here's a non-nonsensically opaque mail I recently got. Blocking early-adopters and developers won't go well. Infuriating.

  Hello,
  
  Thank you for your interest in Coinbase. Our primary goal is to make digital currency safe and secure for our customers. Coinbase is a regulated Money Services Business under FinCEN (FinCEN.gov), and as part of achieving this goal, we are legally obligated to implement regulatory compliance mechanisms.
  
  Upon careful review, we believe your account has engaged in prohibited use in violation of our Terms of Service and we regret to inform you that we can no longer provide you with access to our service. We respectfully request that you follow the on-screen instructions presented when you log into your Coinbase account to send any remaining balance offsite to an external address.

  Should you have any questions or need assistance, please let us know and we'll be happy to help.
  
  Respectfully,
  
  Coinbase Customer Support
And the follow up:

  Hello,
  
  Thank you very much for your phone call about your account restriction.
  
  There are a variety of factors which have been weighed in your case, and we unfortunately are unable to elaborate on our internal decision process. Please know that we do not make these decisions lightly, and do regret losing you as a customer.
  
  We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. If you have any additional questions, please reach out to us by directly replying to this thread.
  
  Regards,
  
  The Coinbase Team

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#56

Post by merinowool »

spaceandthyme wrote: post #20

I know several good people that have been locked out of Coinbase permanently - without any explanation of why - for over a year despite repeated unanswered requests to have accounts reinstated. I watched those people turn from advocates for coinbase into critics. Just a simple explanation would have helped prevent that scenario. This company is a terrible example of how to do business. It's as if they watched how Goo…

AdSense has been a success. There is a saying - if you start don't copy what company is doing now, but what they were doing when they started.

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#58

Post by deltateam »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #52
deltateam wrote: post #5

That awkward moment when you appeal to authority, but it is the wrong authority. Coinbase doesn't trades securities, and had not even registered as a broker-dealer at the time of any of these complaints. Wouldn't the Federal Trade Commission be the more apt generic regulator to lodge these complaints to?

> Wouldn't the Federal Trade Commission be the more apt generic regulator to lodge these complaints to? The best strategy would involve papering many agencies. The CFPB, SEC, CFTC, OCC, your state financial services regulator and attorney general, et cetera . Generally speaking, the SEC is still deciding whether Bitcoin is in its purview. Lots of complaints could cause it to classify Bitcoin exchanges as being subjec…

> whether

more like rationalizing HOW

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#59

Post by mastermojo »

Personally I've used Coinbase since 2013 and apart from a couple transactions (in 2013) getting flagged for fraud and reversed I haven't had any problems. Despite whole bunch of personal horror stories, I don't think they are a malicious, just unprepared for last year's massive usage spike.

Re: Desperate Coinbase customers turn to SEC with allegations of fraud

#60

Post by himom »

starpilot wrote: post #26

What I think computer programmers tend to ignore are principles of real engineering in classical, high-consequence fields. It seems like Coinbase has been following the mantra of "move fast and break things," that would absolutely horrify any traditional engineer. Any civil engineer reviewing a bridge, any aerospace engineer designing a passenger aircraft that he himself may to have to fly on. When the work gets seri…

CB is a YC alum.
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